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Weed & Feed

DanielBoone
10 years ago

I live in NE Atlanta is it ok to put this out today? My front yard is really green but there is a lot of weeds coming up that I want to get rid of. Thanks for the help!

{{gwi:103949}}

This post was edited by DanielBoone on Mon, Jul 1, 13 at 9:45

Comments (6)

  • grass1950
    10 years ago

    No clue where you live or what type of grass you have, but "weed and feed" is not a good choice for the turf or the pocket book. Fertilizing in summer can lead to turf health problems ( although the amount of N in most weed and feed products is low, adding N now is still a bad idea, plus you aren;'t getting your moneys worth in terms of fertilizer.) Weed and Feed is granular and and much of the application does not stick to the weed leaf and fall to the soil where it does nothing. Plus it isn't selective, it sticks to turf leaves and weed leaves.Liquid foliar applied weed killers are much more effective, both in attacking weeds and in cost. Get a tank sprayer and use Ortho products aimed at the type of weeds you have. WBG, WBG Max with Crab Grass Killer or WBG OCC and spot spay the weeds.

  • gsweater
    10 years ago

    Easy to tell where he lives... "I live in NE Atlanta" was in the very first sentence. Sorry that grass1950 was far less than friendly, a common behavior which is what is driving a lot folks from this forum. Simply put, no. Wrong time of year to put that down - selective herbicides, usually sprays, are a far better alternative. Direct answer without the pissy attitude.

  • grass1950
    10 years ago

    Didn't mean to come off as "pissy". Somehow I missed his location ( I started my comment within minutes of his posting but got interrupted and didn't finish until later--maybe he added it on edit or I just outright missed it. If I had seen the OP was in Atlanta, I wouldn't have commented at all as I refrain from warm season grasses.)
    Nonetheless I appologize to the OP if I came off harsh with my disclaimer.

  • dchall_san_antonio
    10 years ago

    You might see if you can return the bag. These weed n feed product have a couple of flaws. A big one is the timing of the fertilizer and herbicide work against each other. Herbicide works really well when the weed is healthy, for example, about 2 weeks after it was fertilized. Fertilizer goes to work right away. What you have then is a herbicide that is just dissipating out of the soil about the time the weeds are healthy enough to really get knocked out. It is better to fertilize and wait 2 weeks. Then come in with a spot sprayer to kill individual weeds.

    The second reason these don't work so well is people either don't read the directions or they can't believe them. The directions say to apply to wet grass. This is the only product ever that has that type of instruction. The reason you apply to wet grass is so the herbicide has direct contact with the grass. If you apply to dry grass (like every other product ever invented), then you miss the entire herbicide effect and all you get is a poor fertilizer.

    The best way to control weeds is to have a very dense grass. Most grasses are the most dense when mowed tall. Bermuda, centipede, and creeping bentgrass are about the only grasses which become most dense when mowed low. For the rest you should be mowing at or just below the highest setting on your mower. Fescue and rye grasses are a little different from other grasses in that they grow as separate plants. They spread by enlarging themselves. Other grasses spread by sending out runners above and/or below the ground. If you have fescue or rye the best way to get a more dense turf is to add more seed in the fall.

    The other best way to keep weeds out of the yard is to refrain from daily watering. Weed seeds need continual moisture to germinate. If you allow the soil to dry out for 6 days between watering, then very few weed seeds will germinate.

    Return that bag of weed n feed.

  • DanielBoone
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thanks for the Help!!! I ended up returning the Weed & Feed. It has been raining for the last 10 days and will continue to rain for the next 5. Once it drys out i will look into spraying some ortho on it.

  • maplerbirch
    10 years ago

    Watch the temps closely when spraying weeds and check the labels carefully. 85 degrees is a common cutoff temperature for the effectiveness of many chemicals. At least it used to be. :)